Somali authorities announced Friday the death of more than 100 suspected members of the Al Shabaab terrorist group in clashes in the last few hours in the Hiran region, located in the center of the country.
The spokesman of the Somali Ministry of Defense, Abdulahi Ali Anod, detailed that the fighting took place in the localities of Garas Magan and El Hariri, before emphasizing that local militias supported the army.
He also called on the population to support the offensives launched by the Armed Forces during the last months, in the framework of a strategy of the new president, Hassan Shaykh Mohamud, to try to defeat the terrorist group, which has links with Al Qaeda.
The announcement came a day after three people, including two children, were killed in a bomb attack on the deputy mayor of the capital, Mogadishu. The man, Sadiq Aden Ali Dudishe, was not in his vehicle at the time of the attack.
Somalia is facing an increase in the number of attacks by Islamist militia, both in the capital and other areas in the south of the country, which has prompted the president to pledge to step up security operations to deal with the threat.
